


Singing blues has been getting old

by likegoldfish



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied Underage Sex, implied nonconsual sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2013-09-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 19:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likegoldfish/pseuds/likegoldfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they leave Beacon Hills they finally get to know each other again, and learn about each other's past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Singing blues has been getting old

**Author's Note:**

> This work in un-beta'd, so should you stumble upon a mistake do let me know :) Title has been taken from Lana Del Rey's Ride.

Cora isn’t that good at driving, but if Derek notices he doesn’t bother to say anything. She had gotten her license from some shady guy in Mexico. The things a short skirt could get done.

She smirks when she thinks of this, of the things she got done. Derek looks at her puzzled. He probably wouldn't want to know how she got by, but she knows he will ask at some point. She doesn’t care about the things she did, it was her decision and it was all consensual. She had been lonely anyways.

Derek does ask about her past, about three weeks later. She had greeted some guy at the motel, she’d been there before about 2 years ago. They’d had a fun night and he had made her breakfast afterwards. When she tells this to Derek he looks like he’s going to kill someone. She chuckles to herself.

“This isn’t even the worst thing, according to your standard.” She bites her lip. “We didn’t all get to go to New York with insurance money.”

“We didn’t know you were alive.” He grits his teeth, and really it’s adorable.

“And I am happy about the choices I made.” Cora smiles. “I can take care of myself, Derek. I have been doing it for years now.” She shrugs. Derek lets out a deep sigh. She gives him a tight hug.

“I know you want to play big brother, but you don’t always need to.” She sighs, “It’s in the past anyway, I’m not as lonely these days.” She smiles at him.

Cora remembers the night of the fire very clearly. She had been young, eleven maybe. She had run to the main road, where a woman gave her a ride. She had stayed with that family for three weeks, before she started running again.

It wasn’t long before running became like a second nature, sometimes she stayed with other packs. Not for long, she didn’t want to submit to an alpha that wasn’t hers. Then she’d be on the road for weeks again, staying in the shadiest motels she could find. It gave her a thrill, the danger of it. When she got a little older she would go home with men she met in bars. It almost felt like home.

She tells these things to Derek, little bits every time. Always to watered down versions as well, because when she tells the entire truth he looks like he’s going to throw up. And she understands it really, she does but she’s not  a little girl anymore. It wasn’t like she let anyone do things she didn’t want to do.

It’s been another 5 weeks when she shows Derek what she’s able to get done. They are a little short on cash, and haven’t found a bank yet. She changes her outfit in the back of the car.

“I’ll get use a room for a lower price.” She grins.

“You don’t need to.” He sighs deeply.

“Just allow me to have a little fun.” She smirks. He looks quite distraught.

She walks inside, wearing a high heels and a red dress. “Hi.” She says sweetly, and makes sure to blink a few times.

“Hello, Miss, what can I do for you.” The receptionist says. He doesn’t look that old, 21 at most.

“You see I have a little problem.” She blinks, “Me and my brother are a little short on cash and we really need a place to stay.”

“I can’t give you a lower price.” The guy shrugs.

Cora pouts, “But I can’t stand to be in a car with him any longer, he’s not letting me have any fun.” She says sadly, and if the strap of her dress falls down a little well who says it’s on purpose.

“You know, we’ll figure it out.” The guy stammers. Cora smiles and kisses his cheek. She and Derek get the room, and the guy gives her his number later. She texts with him a few times, just for the fun of it. He lets her know they can always come back, for  a lower price too.

Sometimes Derek tells her about the things he and Laura got up to in New York, but they are never quite as shocking as the stories Cora tells. Though while she thinks her stories are fun and exciting, she wishes she had found her family earlier. It feels kind of safe to be with Derek, and it feels nice to have a pack again. She never knew how much she missed it, she always thought she would remain an omega. Then again, back then she thought she’d never see her family again.

“I want go to Canada.” Cora says out of nowhere. Derek is kind startled but looks up from his book with a smile nonetheless.

“Why?” He asks, they had driven all the way to Argentina because Cora said she liked it there.

“I have never been there before.” Cora shrugs and smiles at him. “Can we go, please?”

“Fine.” Derek smiles, because now that he has her back he wants nothing but the best for her.

It takes a while before they reach Canada. When they arrive it’s snowing and Cora smiles like a five year old. She throws the first snow ball, but Derek isn’t scared to throw back. After a while they collapse in the snow.

“That was fun.” Cora smiles and rests her head on Derek’s shoulder.

“Yes.” Derek smiles, “It was.” It’s is already dark outside when they realise they still need to find a hotel room.

“We’re getting one that accepts credit cards.” Derek tells Cora, and she doesn’t argue about it. Those hotels had nicer beds anyways, she been in them a few times but she had never gotten to stay more than one night.

Derek picks out the fanciest hotel he can find, he pretends he didn’t do so on purpose but Cora can hear his heartbeat skip when he says so. She grins and flings an arm his shoulder.

“I don’t mind at all.” She grins, then she bites her lip, “Is the food free?” Derek nods and laughs as she skips of the dining hall. He follows after her but doesn’t run to the buffet like she does.

“This is the best.” Cora says with a mouthful of chicken. Derek grins at her.

“Here’s me thinking you had good table manners.” He laughs. Cora shakes her head at him.

“Well you thought wrong.” She grins and takes another bite.

They have a jump on the beds that night and watch movies like they used to when they were still kids. Cora makes him watch Bambi, and Derek will never admit that he cried. She texts Scott a picture anyways.

Scott calls an hour later. “You okay dude?” He asks.

“Yeah of course.” Derek laughs. “We were just watching movies.”

“Good, good just checking you know.” Scott states. “Where are you these days?” He asks.

“We just arrived in Canada today.” Derek states, “But we were in South America before.” He adds.

“Hey, if you ever wanna come back, you’re pack okay.” Scott says.

“I’ll remember that.” Derek smiles. This is what it felt like, having a family, he thinks.

Part of Cora still likes running, so once they have spent a few weeks at the hotel she asks Derek if they can go somewhere else. He takes her to New York, takes her to the apartment he’s still paying rent for. It smells like Laura.

“Like pack.” Cora says and buries her head in Derek’s chest.

Derek takes her out to clubs and looks away when she dances with shady guys. She laughs at him and tells him he has to dance too. Like Laura had, six years ago.

It takes a while before Cora gets her way on this one, but eventually Derek finds himself dancing with random people again. Cora doesn’t look away, just laughs and puts her thumbs up before she finds a new dance partner. She never has to pay for her own drinks, and after a while neither does Derek.

“We could stay her for a while.” Cora says after two months, she’s not done exploring the big city yet. Derek gives her money to decorate her room, she never got around to doing that in the loft.

“Laura decorated the rest of the apartment, she studied interior design.” Derek tells Cora one day. They are eating take-out Chinese on the couch and watching MasterChef.

“She was good.” Cora says appreciatively and hugs Derek tightly. She drops her box of take-out at one point on the carpet. Derek laughs at her as she struggles to clean it up. Later he tells her they have a carpet cleaner. Cora glares at him and tackles him on the floor.

“You asshole.” She laughs as she punches his chest. Derek grabs her arms.

“It was funny.” He states.

“No it wasn’t.” Cora frowns.

A few weeks later Scott calls Derek and asks for his help. Derek packs a weekend bag and is about to drive away when Cora clings to him desperately.

“Don’t leave me alone.” She says.

“Scott needs help.” Derek sighs. Cora starts to cry.

“Don’t leave me alone,” She repeats, “remember when Laura left for Beacon Hills, you told me about it yourself.” She says.

“Come along.” Derek smiles sadly.

They don’t stay in Beacon Hills for a very long time, just a day or two. Derek and Scott figured the business with an invading pack fairly quickly. Somehow the name Hale still makes people listen, even though Derek was no longer an alpha.

He lets Cora drive most of the time. “You need to actually learn it.” He grins.

“I can drive.” Cora protests.

“Grandma could drive, and you know how well she did that.” Derek says. It’s been so long since he thought about his family like that. It feels good, like he’s actually moving on. Cora just punches his shoulder and starts the car.

They sleep in  a few shady motels again. Cora says it’s to remind her of how she used to live, because she had enjoyed that life too. This earns her a frown, until she says settling down for a bit was amazing. Something she hadn’t done before, a new experiment and it was turning out nicely.

The siblings still had their demons. Derek refuses to tell Cora about the things that happened with Kate, so she asks Scott. When she confronts Derek about it, it ends in a huge fight. Plates shatter on the kitchen floor and Cora runs away.

Derek in all his desperation calls Scott, explains what happened, and to his surprise the Alpha already knows. When Scott tells him Cora’s safe with the pack Derek can breathe again. He and Cora talk on the phone and Derek explains little bits and pieces of what happened, enough to make her come home.

When she’s home again he tells her more of the story, how he had been young and foolish. How Kate had used him, that she had made him do things he didn’t really want. That he had been scared to say no, how he thought she had loved him. How she had burned their family, and just how much he blamed himself.

Cora holds him tightly as they cry.  “It’s not your fault, Der.” She whispers, “She was just a stupid bitch, okay?” She says furiously, “I am glad she’s dead, seems like Uncle Peter did one good thing in his life.”

“Seems like it.” Derek agrees.

They go on another road trip, but they aren’t running from something nor towards something this time. They sleep in the car, fancy hotels, people’s homes and just anywhere really. It feels nice to just be free, like they are actual wolves free to go wherever they please.

Cora is in charge of the playlists, well she made herself be in charge. After day two she had enough of Derek’s classical music, mixed with musicals and rock. She had laughed and said she hated classical music. Derek had frowned and called her uneducated.

It doesn’t matter because he chooses the direction where they head. They visit this guy he and Laura had met when they first moved to New York. It’s one of those easy friendships. He and Andrew hadn’t seen each other for years, but it was still as if they saw each other daily. Then again, they knew each other so well. He was the only friend Derek used to have besides Laura. He chuckles when he realises how much his life has changed.

“The lost sister?” Andrew asks surprised.

“Everyone thought I was dead, and I thought they were dead too.” Cora shrugs, like it’s no big deal. “South America was fun though so I’m not bitter.” She smiles.

“It’s dangerous for a girl alone.” Andrew frowns.

“Not for me.” Cora says, pretending to be tougher than she is, “I am invincible.” Derek and Andrew laugh and shake their heads. They have dinner together that night, it’s as fun as Derek remembers. These dinners used to be his only happy times.

“I want a tattoo.” Cora says at the end of the evening, she’s been staring at Andrew’s tattoos all night.

“Do you even know what you want?” Derek raises an eyebrow. ‘

“Come take a look,” Andrew says, “I have a book with pictures, we’ll have you one at the end of the night.” Because who is he to deny this girl anything, she’s told him the stories of how she got by too. He admires her, dealing with all of it on her own always on the run from ghosts. Derek simply agrees, it’s not like he can say anything about tattoos.

Cora picks out a rose, and gets it on her thigh. “Mom and Laura used to love roses, remember.” She smiles. Derek hugs her tightly, because he remembers too. They bought them every week, and put them all over the house. A week before the fire they had planted a rosebush but it got ruined too.

When they are back in New York, Cora smiles and sniffs the air. “Home.” She says.

“Home.” Derek repeats. They are going to be fine.


End file.
